Prince Harry and Meghan Markle came under fire from Nelson Mandela’s eldest granddaughter for allegedly “profiteering” from her family’s legacy to promote their Netflix documentary, glamsquad reports.
Ndileka Mandela gained notoriety earlier this month when Sydney’s Daily Telegraph claimed that she had criticized the royal couple for allegedly “using” her grandfather’s name for their own benefit.
The social activist was ‘very outraged’ that the Sussexes had used the late South African president’s comments in their documentary series Live To Lead, according to Danielle Gusmaroli, the newspaper’s Europe correspondent.
The Daily Telegraph reported that Ms. Mandela was “very angry” about how Prince Harry and Meghan were leveraging her grandfather’s reputation but appreciated Prince Harry for having the courage to leave The Firm.
Ms. Mandela was cited by the newspaper as stating, “I don’t believe he nor Meghan have ever truly met grandad, maybe when Harry was small at Buckingham Palace, but they are using his quotations in the documentary to pull in people and make millions without the Mandela family benefiting.”
“I know the Nelson Mandela Foundation has endorsed the campaign, but individuals have been using my grandfather’s legacy and stealing his quotes for years because they know his name sells — Harry and Meghan are no different from them,” one person said.
I’ve come to terms with people using my granddad’s name, but it’s still incredibly upsetting and tiresome every time it happens. But it has a cost; you then have to support your own life.
Ms. Mandela responded to the quotes by saying, “Honestly, I don’t find anything wrong with them (the Sussexes) using that opening thing inspired with a statement of Granddad.” She also said the opponents of the pair were “creating a mountain out of a mole hill… for no reason.”
She stated to Fox News earlier this month that “Meghan has always been an activist, and this is in her activism work which my grandfather was, he was, a social justice crusader through and through.”
“Like I mentioned earlier, many individuals utilize granddad’s quotations, and nobody has been made the subject of such a big rah-rah as they are making Harry and Meghan utilizing this quotation,” the author said.
Ms. Mandela criticized the publication for “weaponizing my name” in an opinion article published in The Independent on Sunday in London.
She said that a woman of color had been attacked because of her grandfather’s notoriety.
She vehemently denied ever accusing Harry and Meghan of “profiteering” from the name of her grandfather and expressed disbelief at the allegations.
My grandfather’s name was falsely used by (Meghan and Harry’s) detractors to harm them.
The criticism of individuals who cited my grandpa that was falsely attributed to me belongs to the people who spread these lies around the world, not to me at all.
I’m ashamed to see how my remarks were used to misrepresent my sincere worries about my grandfather’s legacy being exploited for profit.